Pasta filata cheese, especially mozzarella, is produced in large quantities for making pizza and other Italian foods. Production methods and apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,531,297, 3,713,220 and 3,961,077. In the processes disclosed in these patents, a continuous mixing apparatus is utilized to mix the cheese curd and impart the desired stringy character to the cheese. The continuous mixer apparatus is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,220. As indicated in that patent, the mixed cheese may be extruded to a molding station. Heretofore, in commercial production, the cheese has been molded in individual boxes and considerable hand labor has been required. After the blocks of cheese are removed from the mold boxes, they are subjected to salting in a brine soak tank. A brining apparatus may be provided through which the blocks of cheese are moved continuously, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,014.
Systems exist for continuous extrusion, cutting, and brining of the cut cheese sections, but heretofore no such system has been developed for commercial use. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,077 (cited above) an elongated molder extruder is illustrated as being connected to the mixer apparatus, which discharges to a cutter above a conveyor. The cut cheese blocks are carried by the conveyor to the brine tank. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,747, a molder extruder is shown discharging downwardly into a brine soak tank. The blocks of cheese are illustrated as being cut at the outlet from the extruder, and fall into the brine tank through which they are moved by a continuous belt conveyor located either in the bottom portion of the tank or above the brine tank. Such systems, however, must operate on a discontinuous basis, that is, it appears to be necessary to interrupt the extrusion during each cutting operation if uniform cheese blocks are to be obtained. Such uniformity is particularly important where the cheese is to be sold in exact size packages, such as home use packages of 8 or 16 ounce sizes. Where such amounts of cheese are cut from larger molded blocks there is a large amount of cutting waste if exact weights are produced.